CHAPTER 66 — THOMAS’S LAST MEMORY
Claire could not fire.
Thomas’s voice weakened.
“My tissue is the bridge between Silas and the children.”
Elias confirmed it.
“Destroying Thomas may interrupt the command long enough to free Ward.”
Margaret approached the glass.
“Is there another way?”
“No,” Thomas said.
Margaret placed her hand beside Claire’s.
“I should have known they replaced you.”
“You loved the man they sent.”
“I loved the memories he carried.”
“That was enough.”
The smaller brain pulsed faintly.
Thomas spoke to Claire.
“You were never a replacement to me.”
“You helped them choose Lily.”
“I chose her because I saw what you became.”
“What does that mean?”
“You were the only Claire subject who protected someone without being ordered to.”
His voice cracked.
“I believed love would make Lily strong enough to resist them.”
“You had no right.”
“No.”
Thomas accepted the judgment.
Claire raised the gun.
On Ward’s video, her finger tightened around the trigger.
The rescued children cried behind her.
Lily hugged Claire’s waist.
“Grandpa is scared.”
Thomas heard her.
“So am I.”
Claire fired.
The smaller brain shattered.
Every screen went black.
Ward dropped her weapon.
The children ran.
Silas screamed through thousands of speakers.
The glass sphere cracked.
The larger brain began collapsing.
“Leave!” Elias shouted.
The laboratory floor opened into the pit.
Cables whipped through the air.
Sarah pulled Claire away.
Mason carried Olivia toward the elevator.
Miriam appeared on one remaining monitor.
“You killed the only man who knew where Lily came from.”
Claire turned.
“What do you mean?”
Miriam smiled.
“Lily was not born to Claire Bennett.”
Claire held her daughter.
“That is a lie.”
The laboratory began collapsing.
Miriam’s image flickered.
“Ask Mason.”
Claire looked at him.
May you like
Mason froze.
He had known.
